Toronto Maple Leafs Rumor: P.K. Subban Coming Home?

A familiar rumor has come to life, as the Toronto Maple Leafs are supposedly interested in defenseman P.K. Subban.

According to Boston Hockey Now’s Jimmy Murphy, it was mentioned that the Toronto Maple Leafs have “more than lukewarm interest” in Subban’s services.

The idea of bringing in P.K. Subban is an interesting case. He’s a former Norris Trophy winner, but his contract makes him practically unmovable. With a $9M cap-hit, the Leafs would have to get very creative in order to make this work.

However, if the Leafs were interested in making a trade happen, there is one positive aspect in this situation. The New Jersey Devils have a projected $12M in cap-space at the moment, so they could easily eat some of his contract to move it.

Also, Subban only has one year remaining on that $9M deal, so both parties would only be eating the contract for a few months.

Does Subban Make Sense in Toronto?

It’s been eight years since Subban won the Norris Trophy, as the league’s best defenseman, but he’s only three years removed from being nominated for the award.

Subban has clearly struggled for the past three seasons, but a lot of that has to do with the market he was playing in. The Devils rarely pack their building and it’s a difficult place to play, despite being so close to New York City. Although, it’s only minutes away from Manhattan, they’re near the bottom of the sports totem-pole and are even the third most important NHL team within the New York/New Jersey area.

Although this is just speculation, Subban seems like a player who would thrive in a big-market, with a ton of spotlight on him. As such, getting traded to Toronto on a one-year trial basis, before being an Unrestricted Free Agent, could be a great move for his career.

The Leafs power-play struggled tremendously last year and the team barely saw offense from their defenseman. As a result, Subban could be a good fit on the main power-play, especially because his slap-shot from the point is so deadly.

An Alex Kerfoot ($3.5) and Ilya Mikheyev ($1.65M) would get you to $5.15M in salary, which would cover Subban’s payment, as long as New Jersey retained half of his salary. There shouldn’t be too many teams interested in Subban’s services, so if the Leafs provided a draft pick and potentially a prospect on top of that, that should be enough to acquire him.

Subban may not be the player he once was, but I think he would come back to life as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Being able to return home to play in front of his friends and family could be a very positive move for him.

If you don’t have to give up Rielly, I say go for it, because I’d love to see Subban in a Leafs uniform.